How is Artificial Intelligence Transforming the Future of Gaming Industry?

Video games are loved all across the world because they offer immersion unlike any other. While books can offer you insightful and deep experiences down to their minute details to enjoy, and movies may allow you to sit back and see an adventurous story unfold before you, a video game takes to a whole new level. It actually lets you enter into a virtual world where you can interact with the people and the objects in it.

Talking strictly about the AI technology, the following are some of the ways it’s changing the future of the gaming industry:

Smarter Games

One of the biggest pet peeves of the gamers has always been “dumb NPCs (Non-Playable Characters)”. This has been brought up a lot of times for open-world games like Assassins Creed Series, Elder Scrolls series, Far Cry series, etc. that are otherwise very much loved. While these games are great on their own, the NPCs act really wonky at times. However, AI is here to change this.

More and more video games are using advanced AI and machine learning to improve the gameplay and make it more challenging. A good example of this is the survival horror game Alien Isolation in which the alien i.e. the xenomorph has a powerful AI. As you progress through the game, it learns from your behavior and started looking for you in the spots where you hide the most such as the cabinets, under the tables, etc.

Another good video game example that has an advanced AI is the stealth game “Hello Neighbour”. In this, your enemy learns from your mistakes and places obstructions/traps strategically that makes it more difficult for you to discover his darkest secrets.

Improved Online Gambling

Online gambling has given rise to one of the fastest growing markets in the gaming industry. Thus, there are a huge number of online (and mobile) casino platforms where you can play slots, poker, roulette, and all the other popular classics. You can check the casino providers review and read more about it before signing up. And yes, AI has had an impact on this domain too. The attractive gameplay with various life events has all been possible with advanced technology.

The gambling industry gets its share of cheaters and scammers. In fact, you must have read a few news pieces on some of the biggest gambling cheaters in Las Vegas or Monte Carlo yourself. However, AI is solving this problem with great results.

For example, Aric is an AI that’s capable of detect frauds and cheating in online games. It successfully reported unusual hit accuracies by the players of popular FPS game Counter-Strike, a sign of someone using a bot or unauthorized script. Top gambling company Betfair found it impressive and adopted it for its own platform.

Aric looks for signs that suggest potential frauds or illegal gambling, such as streaks of high-stake bets, unusual gambling activities, etc. and raises a red flag for Betfair to look into whenever necessary. It’s an effective and reliable way of fraud prevention and fair play in online gambling.

Visual Realism

In the realm of computer games, we have come far from 2D graphics and sluggish animations. Today’s games are highly polished, elaborate, and realistic. However, AI can easily take this another notch up by helping us create video game environments and characters that look natural and realistic.

In a recent interview, Tim Sweeney, who is the developer of the famous video game engine Unreal Engine and proud owner of the GDC Lifetime Achievement Award said that AI has the capacity to greatly improve the way video game characters express their emotions in their body movements.

He said that with AI and big data we can create algorithms that can collect real-world data as in how our facial expressions change and how the beautiful environments look that way and then incorporate it into the virtual fabric of a video game.

In Conclusion

AI is undoubtedly one of the biggest revolutionary technologies that are available to us today. It’s changing the world for the better, and given the way VCs around the world are funding startups in the same space with such zest and expectations, it’s fair to assume that we will see a number of turning points in our endeavors of technological advancements.

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Nerd Stash. An avid gamer since I could walk and can be found in Ashland, KY, where he hopes to find inspiration and uniqueness in life by meeting awesome people, development friendships with companies, and become more nerdy.